Official: I May Have Said Miners Alive

A state mining inspector revealed Wednesday that his shouting during the Sago Mine disaster might have led the relatives of 12 dead miners to believe the men had been found alive.

"I don't recall the exact words I used," said Bill Tucker, an assistant inspector at large for the state Office of Miners' Health Safety and Training. "I was just screaming out for help.

"I think I may have said 'They're alive.'"

The families, who had been gathered in a church near the mine, erupted in cheers and a celebration that dissolved in mystery three hours later when they realized only one miner was alive. Even Gov. Joe Manchin had celebrated what appeared to be a rescue.

Tucker was with the rescue team that discovered the bodies barricaded behind a curtain more than two miles inside the mine in early January. Only after he started checking the miners' conditions did he realize only one, Randal McCloy Jr., had a pulse.

"I picked up the radio and I hollered over the radio that we only have one (alive)," Tucker testified as a two-day hearing into the explosion and its aftermath entered its second day.

At a hearing in West Virginia, another federal rescue team member, Ron Hixson, told federal and state investigators, he's sorry for "the problems and heartache the miscommunication caused."

"That was not meant to be," Hixson said, fighting back tears as the 50 or so family members attending the hearing applauded.

How the miscommunication occurred was high on a list of questions the families hoped to have answered during the two days of hearings.

The disclosures followed more than 10 hours of hearings Tuesday in which the families of the 12 Sago Mine victims demanded answers to what caused the deadly January explosion that has shaken the state and the mining community.

Wives and children of the other miners followed her to the microphone, some clutching framed photos of the victims.

Ann Meredith read from the final note left by her father, James Bennett, reported CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"The last thing he wrote was at 4:25 pm," said Meredith, "'I love you' and he tried to write out my name but could not finish."

Others demanded that officials fix the underlying problems that led to the deaths.

Officials also were pressed for answers on why it took the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration 11 hours to start the search for the trapped crew and why it took so long to drill an air hole to the spot where the miners were believed to be.

Some answers came easily. Others did not. Afterward, International Coal Group President Ben Hatfield said he understood the families' many frustrations.

"We got into a lot more detail than I expected, but I think that's a good thing because we're answering a lot of questions that are hanging out there," he said.

On Wednesday, Hatfield and his team were expected to be pressed to prove their conclusion that an unusually large and powerful lightning strike somehow ignited methane that had accumulated in the mine.

The company has not yet been able to explain what conduit the electricity found into the sealed off area where the blast occurred, and Hatfield indicated Tuesday evening that it cannot yet offer an answer.

Some family members sounded skeptical about the lightning theory. For most, the overriding question was the one articulated by Peggy Cohen, the daughter of fallen miner Fred Ware: Was the explosion preventable?

The miners' families also demanded that Hatfield explain why he waited three hours to tell them the truth after false news spread that 12 of the 13 trapped men were alive. In fact, only Randal McCloy Jr. had survived.

Hatfield said he knew the initial report was wrong about 45 minutes later but wasn't sure what the correct information was. "We frankly didn't know what message to deliver to the families," Hatfield said.

J. Davitt McAteer, a former Mine Safety and Health Administration director, is leading the hearing and the state investigation into the disaster. Gov. Joe Manchin has asked him for a report by July 1, along with recommendations on how to make coal mines safer.

"No matter what safety measures you take, accidents will always occur," said Chris Toler, son of deceased miner Martin Toler Jr. and a dispatcher who began working at Sago after the blast. "It's the steps you take after an accident that matter."